If you feel you’re spinning your wheels with digital marketing, you may want to back up and take the tried-and-true direct mail marketing route. Most digital marketing evangelists will scoff at direct mail, but two very important truths remain: direct mail yields a higher conversion rate than all other marketing types except for telephone, as well as the lowest cost per lead.

Believe it or not, direct mail has prompted 65% of American consumers—regardless of age—to make a purchase of some sort. The average response rate for direct mail is 4.4%, whether that direct mail targeted businesses or consumers. This is a huge edge over email response rates, which equal around 0.12%.

All About the ROI ( Return On Investment)

It’s hard to imagine the cost per lead on direct mail being lower than email, but to realize it comes in under all other marketing tactics’ costs is nothing short of amazing. After all, postal mail prices just keep going up, and that means the cost of direct mail does as well. Add postage to design and print costs, and direct mail begins to sound pretty expensive.

How could this particular marketing tactic cost less per lead? It’s all about the return on investment. Of course, there are quite a few ways to maximize results while minimizing the money spent. Here are 3 ways to make the most of every direct mail campaign.

1. Send Postcards

You need something that will catch a consumer’s eye immediately. If you wrap that message in a boring envelope or ramble on too long about a full-sized flyer, you might lose your audience immediately. A postcard, however, can get the point across with one glance. If you can catch those buyers with their first look at your postcard, you’ve won the battle.

However, there’s the fact that sending postcards cost less than sending regular-sized mail, even if you select the oversized postcards for maximum impact. You’ll see even better prices than you would for a full-sized flyer mailed without an envelope.

2. Segment Your Contact Lists

Customized mail pieces will really speak to your buyers. They won’t be able to resist reading a postcard that greets them by their name. If you go a few steps further to create a postcard that reaches them exactly where they are in the buying cycle, you’ll see even better results.

Variable data printing makes it possible for you to separate your contact list and create direct mail pieces for any vertical. For instance, if you want to reach out to new mothers looking for a pediatrician, you can do so without bothering any of your other patients with junk mail. If you want to contact owners of a particular car for your buyback program, you can avoid irritating your whole customer base.

Those who receive mail that specifically targets them and where they are in the buying cycle are much more likely to respond, making every cent you spend on designing, printing, and posting those cards worth well it.

3. Time Your Communication

If you’re sending out huge mail blasts to all customers all the time, you’re probably not seeing the ROI boasted previously mentioned. The problem is that those mailers will be trashed and any subsequent mail will be ignored. Since you’re not reaching the buyers during that specific point in the buying cycle with information they need at that exact moment, you’re most likely annoying them.

Be more selective and specific when you send direct mail . You don’t need to reach every person on your mailing list every time you do a mailing. Instead, through contact list segmentation, you can touch those buyers as they start the buying cycle and nurture them all the way through to the purchase phase—all without annoying those customers who aren’t yet ready to make a purchase.

As you can see, using less-expensive materials doesn’t have to mean giving up impact. Just send direct mail to the right people at the right time, and you’ll see a much higher return on investment. Watch as your cost per lead goes down and your conversion rate goes up. If you’re ready to see this happen for your business, give AMi a call today to see how we can help grow your business with direct marketing.